Shengdan Kauile!

Posted by Michelle Ross on 12/19/2007

Christmas is coming;

The goose is getting fat...

Yup, even on the other side of the world, we try to make life in December as Christmas-y as possible. This entails the "borrowing" of a Christmas tree, ornaments sent from home and Christmas parties for both the English department and the Book Nook librarians.

Friday night was the department party. Rachel and Tomas hosted it in their new apartment. (They have moved into the apartment right above ours and the one to the left also. It is a confusing arrangement...) They had a "borrowed" tree decorated, lights up and lots of candles, which made everything feel warm and snuggly for the holiday. On the table was an array of food from the West, including Swedish rolls, Christmas cookies, ranch dip and chips and salsa. (The chips and salsa were from Thad and I; the rest they put together.)

This party has been planned and advertised for several weeks in the English department office and after asking around, there were no conflicts. (It is not uncommon for there to be Friday night department meetings and work assignments.) Everyone we talked to said that they were coming, so we expected a full house.

Friday morning, while we were hanging out in the department office between classes, we heard that there was a Party (as in Communist Party) meeting that had been scheduled for Friday night! Arg!! But, not everyone is a member and it was a bit late to reschedule, so we decided to go ahead with the Christmas party anyway.

As it turns out, not only did some people (mostly the men in the department) have to attend the Party meeting, but many of the teachers also had night lessons. The thing is, when we asked, EVERYONE said they were coming. This goes back to the idea of "saving face." It is better to say you are coming, even if you aren't, so that the person hosting the party doesn't feel bad and you don't let them down. The ones who couldn't come then sent word with a colleague that they were not able to make it. Hmmm...it is frustrating from our standpoint because if you can't come, that is fine, just tell the truth about it. We'll chalk this one up to cultural differences!

It wasn't bad though. Sure, a lot of people from the department were not able to come, but the ones who did come had a great time. We had a buffet with all the goodies and just sat around and chatted. Rachel had three door prizes ready, but the idea of a door prize is a foreign and I think we didn't explain it well enough. (I explained once as they put their names into the bag, but I guess I didn't mention that only SOME people get these small gifts. She also left out this crucial bit of information when explaining.) So when it came time to draw names, she chose one teacher to pick a name and gave a gift to that person. Then, the person who won chose the next name. It was supposed to happen three times, but before anyone realized what was going on, all the names had been picked! But, there were only three prizes! Luckily, she had a stash of small scented candles from home that she handed out to the other "winners!" Again, a learning experience!

The conversations for the night ranged from our Chinese names' meanings (everyone knows the meaning of their name here) to our English names' meanings (maybe a bit more elusive.) When Thad said that his name meant "courage," Greta, a teacher known for her random questions, wanted to know, even if he was courageous, what animal was he afraid of! It was such an out of the blue question. I think he went with "tiger." Good choice!

We also talked about families, as several of the female teachers have small children (under the age of two) that live with their in-laws in other towns. This is fairly common- for in-laws and parents to take care of children while the parents go to other towns to work. Needless to say, they are looking forward to the end of the term when they can be with their families again. When I said that Melissa (my older sister) was pregnant with her third child, they loved the idea of having as many children as they want. (China has a one-child policy, but it has different loop holes in it, so some people can have more than one child, but it is still not unlimited.) Of course, that led to all of us being grilled on how many we would have and why we don't already have them! (Thad and I have been married over nine years and Rachel and Tomas eight, so there is curiosity about the topic.)

Finally, at the end of the night we had a gift exchange. Each person brought a small gift, wrapped, which was placed under the tree. (Gifts were to be under 10 kuai--a little over $1.) Everyone got to choose a different gift and open it for all to see. (It is common that when you are given a gift here, you don't open it until you go home. We thought since it was a Western party, we would do things our way!) Thad got a giant bag of oranges and I got a wall clock with Snoopy on it.

Overall I think the evening was a success. I wish that more people from the department could have attended, but everyone has other things going on all of the time. It was fun to chat with our colleagues outside of the smoky English office and to learn more about them and their families!

Only a week until our second Christmas in China--it is odd to think that we'll be home for the next one because the last one doesn't seem so far in the past...

Shengdan kauile!!! (Merry Christmas from China!!!)

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This webpage expresses the views of Michelle Ross. It does not express the views of the United States Peace Corps.

Last updated Sep 29 2008